Tag-Archive for ◊ books ◊

Top 100 Sci-Fi, Fantasy Novels…
Author:
• Friday, August 12th, 2011

According to NPR’s summer reader survey, these are the top 100 Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels.  My biggest issue here is that they call some of these novels, but they’re actually multiple books in a series.  So… there’s a bit of fudging here.  I may lose some serious geek cred on this list.  I’ll admit that I don’t particularly like true, straight forward sci-fi.  I find it a bit dry and difficult to deal with.

Bold = ones I’ve completed
Italics = ones I’ve attempted/partially finished

More than 60,000 ballots were cast in our annual summer reader’s survey — click here to see the full list of 100 books, complete with links and descriptions. Below is a printable list of the top 100 winners. And for even more great reads, check out the complete list of 237 finalists.

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien

2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

3. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert

5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin – I’m on book 5 now.  Counting this as a yes.

6. 1984, by George Orwell

7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan – I gave up in book 8, when I couldn’t recall anything of importance after book 5.

13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell

14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore

16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov

17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein

18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss

19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick

22. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood

23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King

24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke

25. The Stand, by Stephen King

26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson

27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury

28. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut

29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman

30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess

31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams

33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey

34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein

35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller

36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne

38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys

39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells

40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny

41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings

42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley

43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson

44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven

45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin

46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien

47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White

48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman

49. Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke

50. Contact, by Carl Sagan

51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons

52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman

53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson

54. World War Z, by Max Brooks

55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle

56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman

57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett

58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson

59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold

60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett

61. The Mote In God’s Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind

63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson

66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist

67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks

68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard

69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb

70. The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger

71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson

72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne

73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore

74. Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi

75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson

76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke

77. The Kushiel’s Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey

78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin

79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury

80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire

81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson

82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde

83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks

84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart

85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson

86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher

87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe

88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn

89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan

90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock

91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury

92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley

93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge

94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov

95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson

96. Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis

98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville

99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony

100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

 

Yeah, I have quite a bit of reading I should be doing.  o.O

Share
Category: Geeky Stuff, Memes   Tags:  | 6 Comments
Thursday Thirteen: Books
Author:
• Thursday, February 24th, 2011

I wanted to come up with a big, witty Thursday Thirteen for this week but just haven’t had the mental strength this week… so I apologize for the basic list.  Hopefully it’ll be a more expansive topic next week.

This list comes almost entirely out of my discovery last autumn of the absolutely amazing Warwick Public Library near my home.  Honestly – it’s one of the best town libraries I’ve ever seen, and I love the statewide system that Rhode Island has for reserving books and having them shuttled between libraries for easy pickup.  It makes life so much easier (and cheaper!).

This week, I’m listing Thirteen Books I have in my reading queue:

1.  Dead as a Doornail (Charlaine Harris) – this is book 5 of the Sookie Stackhouse (aka “True Blood” inspiration) novels.  They’re easy reads.  I’m not a die-hard ZOMG I must read these now!!! fan of them, but they’re fun books.  I’m not going to add the rest of the books here – but assume they’re subsets of #1.  I’m planning on finishing the series to date this year.

2.  Bleak House (Charles Dickens) – I started this last year, but just wasn’t quite in the right mindset to read historical fiction.  I’ll give it another shot this spring.

3. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) – I’ve seen this book so many times as I pass through the bookstore, but my to-read stack was always too large in my house to justify purchasing it.  Now that I’m active at the library, the cost is a non-issue.  On the list for 2011 it goes!

4.  The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver) – I’ve had this recommended several times, but it’s another case of “just haven’t been able to justify the cost” purchases.  Library opens the door on this one, too.

5.  Torchwood: Another Life (Peter Anghelides) – I’ve fallen behind in my Torchwood novels.  There’s a few out there that I need to read.  This is another “assume subsections to #5″ list.  I love Torchwood for its quirky British X-Files feel, and this is one circumstance where I think the novels are honestly as good as the show in most respects.

6.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Stieg Larsson) – Everyone keeps telling me to read this.  I have no idea what it is, but I just keep getting “READ THIS!!!” recommendations.  So okay, I will!

7.  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith) – Somehow, I got through all of junior high, high school, and university literature courses without reading this.  And I have a sense that it’s one of those must-read books.

8.  Watership Down (Richard Adams) – When I was little, the animated movie of this book scared me.  I can’t even recall why or what was so disturbing – but I remember it as being quite traumatic to watch.  I forgot about it as the years went by, and then it came up in conversation at some point.  And I recalled my fear.  I need to read it to figure out why.

9.  The Divine Circle of Ladies Making Mischief (Dolores Stewart Riccio) – I’ve heard that this book has some fantastic, strong female characters and that it just is a great lazy day read.  Sounds good to me!

10.  The Road (Cormac McCarthy) – We have the movie taped to our DVR.  Like most movies, I’m under the assumption that the book is better and probably more powerful.  It’s another book I’ve had recommended highly.

11.  Magdalen Rising:  The Beginning (Elizabeth Cunningham) – I am an absolute sucker for books that deal with spiritual/religious mythology and the stories that can be woven around it.  Feminine divinity is even more appealing to me.  This book was recommended to me for its Pagan slant.

12.  Girl Clown (Mary Wise) – Mary is a fellow blogger who I met during the Diary-X days.  She wrote a book about her experiences as a circus clown, and I’ve had it on my casual reading list ever since.  Her blog writing is wonderful, and I can’t imagine her book writing is any less so.

13.  The Good Earth (Pearl Buck) – Another book that I don’t quite know how I managed to get through all of those literature courses without reading.  And again, I feel it’s probably important that I do so.

Do you have any other books you feel I should put on my must-read list?  I don’t care for romance novels, but otherwise I love just about everything.  I go through big genre phases where I devour books – so really, anything goes!

Thanks for stopping by!

Share
Category: Memes, Thursday 13   Tags:  | 7 Comments
Monday, Monday…
Author:
• Monday, July 14th, 2008

I have a case of Monday groggies that are just maddening. Even an extra hour of sleep on the train this morning and a large coffee aren’t kicking it.

*sigh*

Hopefully my body will find a way to wake up today. I have a lot of things I’d ideally like to do.

If work continues to be quiet today, I’ll be doing some fic writing at my desk – it will at least make me look like I’m busy. The ficathon entry isn’t due until the 26th, but I’d really, REALLY like to have it done and out to beta sometime this week. We’ll see.

Once I get my fic commitments done, I may take a decent break from a lot of fandom stuff, with the exception of the modding work needed. *shrug*

I’m joining the Stitching Olympics over on cross_stitch. I haven’t quite decided what I’m going to use for it, though. Most likely I’ll be working in ivy_pep‘s sampler… because you know, it would be good to get her wedding sampler done sometime relatively soon, considering we’re coming up on three… *blush* Anyone want to join me for some crafty Olympics? :)

I finished reading Anything Goes this weekend. John Barrowman is a funny mofo. More than once I laughed out loud on the T last week – generally not appreciated by the commuting public. Seriously? Good on him for living life as he’s wanted to. Great stories. His family just sounds like an absolute hoot. I’d probably be scared to death by them. (and that’s a compliment, BTW)

Off to get a cuppa and then sit down with those six pages of Cyrillic writing from last week…

Share
Category: Misc. Musings, Stitching   Tags: , , ,  | Leave a Comment
Protected: Related book post meme
Author:
• Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Share
Category: Misc. Musings   Tags: ,  | Enter your password to view comments.
Protected: Needing reading suggestions…
Author:
• Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Share
Category: Misc. Musings   Tags:  | Enter your password to view comments.
Protected: What have you read?
Author:
• Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Share
Category: Misc. Musings   Tags: ,  | Enter your password to view comments.
Protected: Sad news for Discworld fans…
Author:
• Wednesday, December 12th, 2007

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Share
Category: Misc. Musings   Tags: ,  | Enter your password to view comments.
Protected: A question for fellow Pagans…
Author:
• Tuesday, November 06th, 2007

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Share
Category: Misc. Musings   Tags: , ,  | Enter your password to view comments.
Book meme
Author:
• Monday, October 01st, 2007

via kalleah

These are the top 106 books most often marked as “unread” by LibraryThing’s users (as of today). As usual, bold what you have read, italicise what you started but couldn’t finish, and strike through what you couldn’t stand.

Mel personal note: books I have currently in my “to read” or “re-attempt to read” stack are asterixed.

more…

Share
Category: Memes   Tags:  | Leave a Comment
Protected: Coming out of my Potter seclusion
Author:
• Sunday, July 22nd, 2007

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Share
Category: Misc. Musings   Tags: , ,  | Enter your password to view comments.
Protected: Book has been purchased…
Author:
• Saturday, July 21st, 2007

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Share
Category: Misc. Musings   Tags: , ,  | Enter your password to view comments.
Books I have
Author:
• Thursday, May 17th, 2007

HAVE
#9 The Resurrection Casket – Justin Richards
#8 The Feast of the Drowned – Stephen Cole
#2 The Monsters Inside – Stephen Cole
#3 Winner Takes All – Jacqueline Rayner
#1 The Clockwise Man – Justin Richards
#11 Art of Destruction – Stephen Cole
#7 The Stone Rose – Jacqueline Rayner

ORDERED
#5 Only Human – Gareth Roberts
#6 The Stealer of Dreams – Steve Lyons
#4 The Deviant Strain – Justin Richards
#12 The Price of Paradise – Colin Brake
#10 The Nightmare on Black Island – Mike Tucker

NOT ORDERED YET
#13 Sting of the Zygons – Stephen Cole (4/07)
#14 The Last Dodo – Jacqueline Rayner (4/07)
#15 Wooden Heart – Martin Day (4/07)
#16 Wetworld – Mark Michalowski (9/07)
#17 Forever Autumn – Mark Morris (9/07)
#18 Sick Building – Paul Magrs (9/07)

Share
Category: Geeky Stuff   Tags: ,  | Leave a Comment
Yet another reason why I love him…
Author:
• Thursday, July 14th, 2005

I’ve lost count, honestly… but regardless of how many ways I love him already… today, he added another one:

Around 5:20, when I’ve missed my train to South Station to meet up with him and am waiting for the next one to arrive, he gives me a call.

“Just wanted to call you hon– I bought you a copy of The Book.”

Absolutely no other definition was needed. I knew what Book he spoke of.

“How on earth did you get it?”

“The news stand at South was selling them. I got the second to last copy.”

He doesn’t ask me beforehand. He just sees it, and buys it. Never mind the fact that the place was selling the book illegally… or for a slight mark up.

I got to South Station about ten minutes later, and he placed the big thick green covered book — with purple metallic lettering — in my hands.

“You have something to read on the ride home now.”

Damn skippy I do. I’m already about 40 pages in. There are 652 pages total.

Ooooh….

*drool*

But seriously– it’s weird knowing that I have what amounts to an illegal copy of the book. Two days early? I have what millions of children (and adults) covet. Very, very odd.

And yes, I promise to keep all comments behind cuts. On my LJ. In fact, I’ll create a filter for them. So if you want to know about it, befriend my LJ, or let me know to email you the entry. :)

*happy dance*

~ Mel.

Share
Category: Erich, Geeky Stuff   Tags: , , ,  | Leave a Comment
Time Waster
Author:
• Tuesday, January 27th, 2004

Everything’s okay here… just busy these days. :)

Borrowed from Minarae, bolding the ones I have read on this list… :)

1984, George Orwell
The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy (Tolstoy loved using 18 names for each character)
Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer <— on my list to read, actually.
The BFG, Roald Dahl <– honestly, can’t remember if I did.
Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
Bleak House, Charles Dickens
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
Catch 22, Joseph Heller
The Catcher In The Rye, JD Salinger
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl (and the Great Glass Elevator)
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett *snicker*
The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky (H.S. English teachers loved this stuff)
David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
Dune, Frank Herbert
Emma, Jane Austen
Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
The Godfather, Mario Puzo
Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell
Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman Two of the best modern writers, IMHO.
Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald I HATED this book with a passion– every page was a chore for me.
Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
His Dark Materials trilogy, Philip Pullman
The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, Douglas Adams (and the rest of the increasingly inaccurately-named trilogy)
The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
Holes, Louis Sachar
I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
Katherine, Anya Seton
The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, CS Lewis
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
The Lord Of The Rings, JRR Tolkien
Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blighton
Magician, Raymond E Feist
The Magus, John Fowles <— on my list
Matilda, Ronald Dahl
Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
Middlemarch, George Eliot
Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie
Mort, Terry Pratchett
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
On The Road, Jack Kerouac
One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Perfume, Patrick Suskind
Persuasion, Jane Austen
The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving <– sounds familiar, but not sure.
Pride And Prejudice, Jane Austen
The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
The Ragged Trousered Philantrhopists, Robert Tressell
Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett My favorite childhood book. I always wanted to find one myself!
The Secret History, Donna Tartt
The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
The Stand, Stephen King
The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
Tess Of The D’urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough *sigh* One of my sappy romantic indulgences.
To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee One of the first books that made me *think*
A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
The Twits, Roald Dahl
Ulysses, James Joyce
Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
War And Peace, Leo Tolstoy (again.. one professor… all of the Russian heavies. Go figure)
Watership Down, Richard Adams I recall this being very disturbing… and so was the “cartoon” movie.
The Wind In The Willows, Kenneth Grahame
Winnie-the-Pooh, AA Milne
The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

me? an avid reader? Nah…

But at least this proves that I don’t JUST read fantasy stuff, eh? ;)

Share
Category: Memes   Tags:  | One Comment
Happy Eleventy-First
Author:
• Friday, January 03rd, 2003

I wonder if they’ll be singing Happy Birthday to Mr. Tolkien tonight at any of the screenings of LOTR. :)

He is, as Bilbo Baggins was at the beginning of the novel, now celebrating his one hundred and eleventh birthday, smiling from somewhere in the Summerlands at us all.

~ Mel.

(drugged on cold medicine… can’t write more)

Share
Category: Misc. Musings   Tags: , ,  | Leave a Comment